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The Californian sun was scorching down on me when I walked out from the boutique that was located in the famous Rodeo drive. I slapped my sunglasses on before looking both ways on the sidewalks, not wanting to know that I was being stalked by some paparazzi. It wasn’t that I felt famous or whatever, but I hated them. My so-called relationship with Brian went down the drain because of them a few months ago, right after I moved to Los Angeles. When I was trying to get to my car in the back garage of the boutique, some middle aged man popped out of nowhere, jumped in front of me and took a picture.

“Dareen! Tell us what would happen next on the show!”, he exclaimed while keep taking pictures. I pursed my lips and rushed my pace to the garage. When I looked over my shoulder, the paparazzi multiplied to 3 or 4 men, following me hot on my trails. I hissed in annoyance and just simply ran to my car.

As soon as I got into the car, the paps were surrounding the front of my car and still taking pictures while shouting some questions. Like I would answer them. I turned on the ignition and decided to back off a little before driving away by the right. When I got away from them, I exhaled in relief as I turned on the radio. Right in time when my phone rang.

“Hello?”, I answered after putting the call on speaker through the radio.

“Dareen! Where are you?”, Bobby White, my manager, asked in a merry tone. He was assigned to me by Victor ever since I moved here and signed a contract for the show.

“Just got away from a group of paparazzi.”, I said sarcastically with a roll of my eyes. “They’re driving me nuts.”

“Well, you’re a hot cake right now for the media. ‘Golden Coast’ only halfway through the first season but you four already sucked all the attention.”, he chuckled at the end.

I couldn’t help but chuckled along with him. “What’s up, Bob? Do you need anything?”

“No, no. Just wanted to remind you that you have a hair appointment with Max back home at 4 cause’ the party starts at 7.”

“Sure.”, I giggled. “I’m just gonna grab a quick lunch with Erica first and go straight back home.”

“Good girl. See ya.”, by that, we hung up. It was so crazy to see how my life changed in only a matter of year. Last summer, I was still in Virginia, working in a boutique that was owned by Arletta Stevens, which looked like a huge thing for me. Now, I lived in Los Angeles, California. Every Wednesday night, I would see myself on MTV because of the reality show I starred in. My schedule now consisted of shooting, working, photo shoots, parties to attend, and stuff. It was madness but I actually kept my promise to my friends back home.

My hair was still flaming red and my attitude was still the same, even though to most people, Dareen the Ice Queen was just a history or a myth. I saw her as an old friend I haven’t seen in a while. The only difference that was visible to the outer world was how my skin got the golden tan naturally. If David wanted to complain about that, he could write a complain letter to the sun.

The drive to the bistro where Eric was waiting for me at wasn’t that far. In a mere 15 minutes, I got to the place and parked my car on the side parking lot. Good thing there wasn’t any paparazzi or I would throw a tantrum on them. Erica was already sitting down on one of the comfortable booths that were facing to the window, but it didn’t matter.

“Dareen!”, she grinned and waved her hand to get my attention. I waved back and walked towards her before taking a seat across from her. “Crazy drive?”

I groaned quietly as I put on the napkin on my lap. “You don’t even know. I got stalked by paparazzis.”

“Same as always.”, Erica giggled and took a sip of her iced lemon tea. The waiter came over to our table to take our food orders and after I ordered grilled chicken salad and lemonade, while Erica ordered a beef wrap, he went away. “Anyway, are you excited for the party tonight?”

“An excuse to get out from my daily routine.”, I replied. “But since Lindsay’s gonna be there…”

“I still don’t get it with that girl.”, she clucked her tongue while shaking her head slightly. “Can she just accept the fact Victor chose you to have a story line and get over it? I even heard her talking to Parker about how she should be the one that he has a love interest in.”

“How low.”, I scoffed and we shut our mouths when the waiter came over again to put down my glass of lemonade and our bread basket. When he walked away again, I continued. “I can’t wait to see how she would ruin my life again. I don’t even see Parker in a romantic kind of way!”

“But it was pretty obvious that Parker does see you in a romantic kind of way.”, Erica teased with wiggling her eyebrows. I rolled my eyes on her comment. It was that much of a secret that Parker, the only guy in the show, had a “crush” on me. Victor actually planned him to be my love interest, but I only saw him as a brother and a shoulder to cry on. The only guy that I still had in mind was… Cameron. Hard to confess and hard to said, I couldn’t even get him out of my mind.

Even though I kept in touch with Amy, Feranix, David and Eric, I never ever let them put Cameron on the phone or call me when he was in the same room as them. I was scared if I even listened to a glimpse of his voice, I would jump on the next plane to Virginia and just… come back to him. His band grew and now they were famous. I even had to see their music video on MTV when the show went into a commercial break.

“Earth to Dareen. Hello, Dare?”, Erica called me, making me to snap out from my thoughts. I didn’t even notice that our food already came. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just spaced out a bit. Too much work going on in my head.”

“Arletta should give you a break.”, she giggled while taking a bite of her wrap.
**********
“So, what kind of hairdo you’re planning to get?”, Max asked me in his flamboyant tone as he dried my hair with a towel. It was a good thing he wanted to do my hair in my house because I didn’t need any sequel of ‘Today’s Paparazzi Attack’.

I shrugged my shoulders and looked to the mirror that was set in the living room. “I don’t know. You’ve seen my dress, what do you think I should get?”

“I know just the do.”, he grinned and started to work on my hair. I was sending a text to Amy, asking where she was because I sent her 2 invitations to the party for her and Feranix, when suddenly, I heard the front door opened and closing.

“Dareen, you won’t even believe this.”, Bobby breathed as he walked into the living room. He looked like he was running from the driveway to the front door, even though he was already suited up for the party.

I furrowed my brows and took the paper in his hand when he offered it to me. “What is it?”

“Look who they booked for the party tonight!”, he hissed and paced around out of frustration. My eyes scanned the list of performers for the party and my stomach tied up when I saw the name that I’ve been avoiding for the past 6 months.

“What should I do?!”, I asked my manager, not caring that my hair was being pulled with a comb and hair dryer. “Bobby, he’ll be there! I’m freaking out! Why my friends didn’t tell me?”

“Probably your friends didn’t want you to freak.”, he answered in a calm tone. “You can’t freak, Dareen. I’m answering this as your friend, not your manager. From what you’ve told me, you really wanted to tell him how much you still love him and how sorry you are for what happened. Tonight’s the chance.”

Bobby and I were in a staring contest until I nodded and let Max done my hair. It was the least I could do before I had to confront him.